Pages

Monday, August 31, 2009

Here's a card I made for an upcoming baby shower.
I used the paper piecing pattern from Scrapbooks Etc.
Paper piecing is a bit more work, but I always like how it turns out.
I embossed the booties and cut out the "BABY" using the Cuttlebug die cuts - Bubbles.
I like how "soft" it turned out.
I also made this little shoe to match my card.....I'll attach it to the present as an extra decoration!
Here the two of them are together.
Here's the link for a pattern to make little girl and boys shoes.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

This week I'm doing a "Back To School" object lesson for the kids at church, and I made the following backpacks to give out when I'm done.
The really neat thing is that I didn't have to come up with all this on my own, it's already been prepared........all I had to do is print and assemble.
Here's a close up of the front of one of the backpacks
Nothing extra is needed to keep it closed (like Velcro) as the strap slides in and out of the loop.
Here's the back
Here's what's in the front pocket
Inside I place some school supplies and two snacks.
Since I ALWAYS enjoy free tutorials and free templates, I'll share where I got this idea from....Danielle's Place.
I made mine a bit smaller than hers is, and cut 2 1/2 inches off the top of my paper bag before I assembled it.
If you weren't interested in using it for this object lesson, the templates could still be printed out and used as a template in making your own.
I think they'd make cute back-to-school backpacks to be given to your kids with a surprise in it on their first day back to school.

One of my nieces just started 1st grade and this is her first year to home school. Wanted to make her a little card to kick the school year off, and decided to include all my "little" nieces and nephews. Sent them a small surprise and this "Happy Back To School" card.
I also plan to make up a little surprise for my own daughter on her 1st day of 1st grade and of course she'll get one of these cards as well.

Supplies:

The stem, leaves, letters, books, and small apple are all Cuttlebug dies that I have.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

An anniversary card.I've seen cards like this before, but had no template.Using a Print Shop program I have, I inserted a round corner rectangle and re-sized accordingly....making each layer a little smaller than the last.Very easy and simple!I embossed the cake to give it some texture and added a few flowers and rhinestones.

I got to thinking that a chocolate cake would be yummy!Here's a bigger version of the same cake - this time chocolate with pink flowers.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The free image over at "There's Magic in the Air" this week is a Duck.I loved her idea for copying and reducing the image to make the mommy and baby ducks.Here's my card - colored with watercolor pencils again.

Monday, August 24, 2009

The challenge today over at Moxie Fab World is to make a clean and graphic Christmas card.
Since I have a friend who LOVES snowmen, I plan to make her a whole set of these cards for her birthday (in October). Figured I'd get an early start and enter the challenge as well.
Using the chalking technique and my Inkadinkado Warm Holiday Wishes Clear Stamp set I created the following card:

Can you tell I'm on a roll with this "new to me" technique for packaging cards?Here are two more sets I did....they were fairly easy as I used the same chalking method described in this post. Making two of each card sped things up a bit too. Without further ado - here they are...

The sets contain four cards - one each of these designs.

I've already given both sets away to a friend (one for her and one for her to give to a co-worker). Guess I'll have to get busy and make up some more!

Friday, August 21, 2009

I recently found this idea on Splitcoast for using a 6 x 6 page protector to make your card sets pretty to give.Since my Mom's birthday is TODAY, I had a good excuse to try it out.Mom is the one responsible for starting me into card making.Four and a half years ago I was going through a difficult time (adjusting to a move across the country)....she knew I was struggling and needed something to keep me busy and get my mind off of being lonely and missing all my friends! She kept at me to take up this hobby. At first I told her I wasn't interested (hard to imagine a day I WASN'T interested in card-making!!!), but she was persistent. Ended up she bought me a mini sewing machine (for cards). Of course I couldn't make her feel bad by not using it, and that was the start of my card-making. Happy Birthday to the best Mom in the world!(And here's part of her birthday present - I made two each of the cards shown)

Used Versa Mark stamp pad to put flowers on the envelopes - the same flower is stamped on a purple circle and ran through the sticker maker for seals.Supplies used:

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

I actually have two cards to enter in the Cuttlebug Challenge this week.
Here's the second one --- a little puppy face.
Though you can't make it out in the picture - his ears are embossed with the the polka dot folder. (The tongue is a red balloon)

(This idea came from "The Complete Practical Guide to Card- Making" by Cheryl Owen)

The challenge this week over at Cuttlebug Challenges is to make a shape card.
I know flowerpots aren't new, but they make a nice summer card.
Here's mine using the paisley/polka dot embossing folders and cuttlebug flower/leaves dies cuts.
After I embossed the pot I ran my ink pads lightly over the design to make it "pop."

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The challenge over at Magical Monday this week is to take the beached boat and make a gate fold card out of it. Skip on over there to get your free image and check out the pretty cards.
Since I really, really like this image; I wanted it to be the focus of the card without a lot of extras around it. I printed it on light blue card stock and colored it with watercolor pencils. This is one of my first attempts at watercoloring.
Here's the image all colored...
...here's the finished product! I think I'm hooked!!

Here is another card made by my six year old.
She designed and made everything from the embossed background ---to the clouds --- to the hand drawn flower stems ----to the 3 D flower.
She likes to craft alongside of me, and has her own table in my little craft room.
I thought she did a pretty good job on this card (for her age), and she'll be pleased that mommy posted it on her blog.

Monday, August 17, 2009

It's been over a week since I purchased the Inkadinkado set (of five) called Utopiary (for $5 at Michaels - using a coupon of course).
I finally got a chance to try one out.
I used a chalking technique that I learned some time back.
Here are the results...Here's how to re-create this effect:

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

A2 envelope (two templates --- one tall and one wide) This lady does LOTS of neat free stuff - you'll want to book mark her site!
A huffy little fish (check back every Monday for another limited time freebie)

Sunday, August 9, 2009

I made this card some time back, so I don't really have a list of supplies for it.Obviously, I used the Cuttlebug Swirls Embossing Folder on the card and bird.I got the birdhouse pattern from Paper Crafts Magazine, and I believe the bird template was from them as well. The fun part was the stick (from my back yard) for the birdie to sit on.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Several months ago I found this beautiful rose (with directions on how to make it) on Split Coast Stampers.
I don't own a rose stamp that big, but the outline of a rose/leaves works just as well.
Here's the template I used to make these pretty roses and leaves.Just recently these (and these) images were on Digital Two For Tuesday.
I decided to combine the two and here is what I got....

Monday, August 3, 2009

Since I try to keep up with birthday's (and have a hard time coming up with "affordable" things for men) I was delighted when my friend posted this.
Somehow I procrastinated in looking at my date book till Saturday...this brought the realization that I needed two gifts for men by Sunday!
Here's my creation - not necessarily the most creative, but I had a splitting headache all day Saturday and this was the best I could come up with under those circumstances.
(By the way - not only is the idea my friends, the paper was from her too --- it's travel themed and she said she'd be waiting to see what I did with it!)

Inside you'll find 3 of each of these candy bars.
By the way, I wasn't able to use our check boxes as they have all our info printed on the bottom. However, I did open the box up and use it as a template to make these boxes. I used white poster board (that I got in a pack of 10 for $1 at Dollar General). I toyed with the idea of using a cereal box, but would have required me to cover it in something else. Since I was in a hurry, and didn't feel well, I chose the easiest method possible.